Implications of Health Care Reform for Farm Businesses and Families

The Affordable Care Act has implications for the source of health insurance for farm households and potentially how much of their time they allocate to off-farm jobs and even the rate at which new operators enter farming. The Act will likely have impacts for the 1% of farms defined to be large employers, which are required to provide coverage for their workers or pay a penalty. While a very small share of all farms, they account for upward of 40% of the production for some commodities. How they adjust their use of farm labor in response to the Affordable Care Act has implications for farm structure.